A Moment of Respite
by Midnight Whistles
Summary: It was a break. A well earned day at the beach to allow the team some time to relax. But, nothing is ever that simple and this time, there is no villain to blame.
1. A Break

**Hi Everyone! Here's my next story. It's extremely random and unrealistic, but it was stuck in my head... XD Hope you like it and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW xxxxxx**

Chapter One - A Break

The beach was a calming place. Or, at least it was to Kaldur; not quite as homely as the ocean, but pretty much the next best thing to Atlantis prior to actually entering the sea. The gentle rocking of the waves helped to soothe the Atlantian into relaxation, and the soft crash of the tides against the golden sand was a pleasure to both observe and listen to.

It had been his idea. To visit the beach as a team, that is. They had all worked hard over the past few weeks and, as team leader, it had become clear to him that a respite was much needed. Kaldur, ever the strategist, had wondered if perhaps, it could even be disguised as a team bonding exercise, if necessary to convince certain senior members of the league that the break was needed.

Not surprisingly, the rest of the team had jumped upon the idea eagerly and to his surprise, even Conner had shown support of the plan. That his friends had shown agreement was, for the most part, predictable; they were just as exhausted as he was, and craved the happiness associated with the seaside. However, the greatest shock received was caused by none other than the Batman himself, who Kaldur had not believed would like the idea of meaningless trips to the beach. However, the Dark Knight had agreed, even providing Robin with money to be used on 'necessary supplies', which the Boy Wonder and Wally had immediately tagged as ice cream and a new beach ball (Superboy having mistakenly popped the last one whilst trying to master the art of volleyball).

And so, that was how he, Aqualad, had ended up lying lazily upon the sandy coast at the edge of the sea line. He cared not about the persistent water lapping at his ankles, knees and waist, nor about the hot sun, blazing down upon him. He was content with the peaceful moment he found himself experiencing, and within moments, the Atlantian found himself drifting off to a light doze, thinking of the sea, his home and Tula. _Tula_. How he missed her...

_On reflection, he should have seen the signs. The slow build up of clouds, a dark grey colour within the sky. The consistently increasing winds as they whipped by, cooling his skin. He was a man of the sea- he should have known better._

_But he hadn't._

M'gann loved the beach; absolutely adored it and all of the human traditions that came along with it. Swimming, sun bathing, picnics and sandcastles were all activities that she had read or seen displayed on television, but had never experienced until her arrival upon earth. As such, the martian had been ecstatic when their usually serious leader (or 'Boss man, as Kid Flash had dubbed him), had suggested the trip.

Throughout the entire day prior to the event, M'gann had spent long hours preparing for the beach adventure: ages spent examining her reflection in the mirror to find the perfect organic bikini, questioning Artemis (her newly named 'earth sister') on the significance of thirty factor versus fifty factor sun lotion, seeking Robin's advice about which sunglasses were most appropriate for such a glorious occasion and demanding that Wally teach her the ways of the mysterious 'barbeque'. She had certainly been joyful, and her cheerful demeanor had spread quickly to her teammates.

Now that the day had finally arrived, the martian had dutifully laid down her own large, colourful blanket, before carefully setting up the picnic that Robin (well, more like Alfred) had helped her to prepare.

Sighing happily, M'gann scanned the beach, deserted apart from her friends, and smiled in satisfaction. Pulling a beach towel around her green shoulders as the temperature dropped slightly, the martian floated over to where the blonde archer currently lay, tanning. Watching the teenage girl in fascination, M'gann desperately hoped that her teammate would remind her, once more, about how the exercise of 'sun bathing' was accurately carried out.

_ Looking back, M'gann supposed that she could not have truly been blamed for what happened next. After all, there was not an ocean on Mars like that on earth. However, the green skinned girl couldn't help but think that, maybe, just maybe, if she had paid less attention to the sandwiches and more to the sea itself, this might have been prevented, or at least avoided._

_But she hadn't._

Superboy wasn't overly happy at the beach, but that being said, Conner wasn't generally a very 'happy' person anywhere. Hence, the fact that he wasn't actually miserable, seemed to imply that the decision to go the the beach had been a good one.

One of the reasons for this was, undoubtedly, M'gann. In Conner's mind, the beach made M'gann pleased and, as the happiness of his girlfriend was ultimately what made the clone, himself, more cheerful, he was more than alright with the trip to the small section of beach located at the bottom of the cave. Seeing the martian practically glow from delight at the suggestion had strengthened his determination to obtain something positive from the day, or at least, to improve his acting skills...

Upon arriving however, the clone of Superman had discovered a new fascination: seashells. Their simple beauty astounded the large teenager and he struggled to comprehend how something so aesthetically pleasing could have been produced from the dark and powerful depths of the ocean.

After quickly scanning the seafront, Superboy soon came upon his favourite of the shells he had viewed so far. It was not overly large, but contained several, stunning colours, the most prominent being a dark green and small splotches of fiery red.

Blushing, the clone realised that the shell reminded him of his girlfriend, and with a subtle glance to where she sat behind him, with the team's resident archer, Conner decided that he would give it to her as a gift. _Because,_ he thought to himself uncertainly, _that is something that will make her happy, just as she makes me happy. _

Carefully dropping the shell into one of his pockets, Superboy turned back to face his friends, kicking a nearby empty juice carton (probably the fault of the speedster of the team) at a cluster of seagulls, who were squawking noisily at each other a few metres away.

_Thinking back, Conner was angry. If Superman had been there with them, he would have been able to spot the indicators. He would have know what to do where his clone had been clueless. If only Conner had tried to be more observant, more aware of his surroundings, like _**_Superman_**_ would have been, than he might have been able to save the day._

_But he hadn't._

Prior to joining the team, Artemis would have had real problems with venturing to the beach, probably the most significant being that she disliked people. For the most part. Her past surrounding the abusive nature of her father and the betrayal of her sister had led to some pretty severe trust issues and thus, choosing to visit a place that might have been packed with people - happy families, tourists, noisy kids and freshly married couples, would most definitely _not _have been her idea of a fun activity.

But now... Now, here she was, at the place that she had previously dreaded, actually enjoying herself. Admittedly, this probably had something to do with the fact that the only people (and she used the term very lightly) currently on the beach were her teammates, but she was having a good time none the less.

Lying back on the warm sand, Artemis let her hands trail gently through the yellow grains, soothed by the heat provided by the sun's rays along her body. She liked that she had no reason to worry here; here with her friends, who knew who she was, who her _father _was, and yet treated her like family all the same. For the first time in quite a long time, the teenager felt safe. Safe and loved by those around her.

Listening to the cheerful chattering of her green friend next to her, and the youthful laughter of Wally and Dick splashing noisily in the waves, Artemis allowed herself a small grin. Her first family might have been a mess, but she had found a new one. A much, much better one, too.

_Artemis cursed loudly at herself. Why did she have to be so stupidly naive to think that everything was suddenly sunshine and rainbows? She had been brought up as a warrior, as a survivor, and, despite all of the horrid things that she had been taught by her father, his lessons on observation of the enemy would have been useful at the time. If only she hadn't been so careless as to think that she and her new family were actually safe. She should have been aware that bad things can always happen. She should have known._

_But she hadn't._

Dick Grayson liked to think of himself as a 'one of a kind' type of guy. Because, hey, there weren't many thirteen year old kids out there who could claim to have worked alongside the world's greatest detective, who had spent almost every night for the last four whole years helping Batman_, _the _freaking Batman _kick the trash of Gotham City back into Arkham. It was a pretty cool job, he wasn't going to lie.

But...it was also hard. _Really _hard. And sometimes, Dick felt like he needed a little less Robin time, and a little more Grayson time. Yeah, it was great being able to call himself a hero, but that didn't mean that there weren't times when Robin was scared or frustrated or exhausted, just like any other thirteen year old boy could be. And even though Bruce was trying so hard to be the loving father figure that Dick so desperately craved (and he was doing a pretty good job, too!), sometimes, he didn't understand that the Boy Wonder wanted to be just that: a boy.

A _normal_ boy.

That's why Dick was definitely feeling the aster when Kaldur mentioned the beach trip to the team. The acrobat really liked the beach; his parents had taken him to them whenever the circus had travelled to a sunny spot and he had fond memories of those adventures. Even Bruce and Alfred and taken him on day trips to beaches, which, although very different to his past visits with his parents, had also been fun. Hence, he was officially pumped for the well deserved 'holiday'.

On said day, Dick found himself sprinting for the deep blue waves almost as soon as they had arrived, Wally trailing not far behind him. He laughed; not his usual hacking giggle, but an honest, child's laugh, as he splashed at his red headed friend with a carelessness that he could not usually afford to have.

_This was all his fault! He had been trained by the Batman for God's Sake! Why hadn't he noticed the clues? Why? Well, he knew why... He wasn't good enough. He'd never been as good as his mentor and, honestly, Dick wasn't sure if he would ever be. Or even wanted to be. But, this time, Robin knew that if he'd been a little quicker, a tad smarter, a bit more _**_experienced, _**_this could have all been prevented._

_But he hadn't._

Kid Flash was quick to take after the hacker of the team, galloping forward into the ocean. He stuck his tongue out at the youngest of the team as the dark haired boy teased his apparent slowness, which he resented; the only reason he hadn't been first into the sea was because his 'gingerness' (as Robin and Artemis loved to call it) meant that unless he absolutely marinated himself in sun cream, he would become Kid Crispy. He would rather not die of humiliation, thank you very much!

Finally having reached his best friend, Wally took great pleasure in dunking said friend underneath the surprisingly strong currents. The reward for his efforts turned out to be a shark kick to the groin, and this abruptly turned the speedster's attention away from the water and back to the smirking acrobat.

Ready to pounce on the smaller boy, Wally was halted by the sound of M'gann calling his name. Facing the martian with what he believed to be his sexiest smile, Wally noticed the camera in her hand, and quickly grabbed the shorter teen standing next to him by the arm, wrapping his arm around the boy's neck in a headlock as he posed for the camera.

Wally grinned in triumph as he noticed Miss Martian laughing at his antics, before releasing the snarling Boy Wonder (who shoved him away, muttering something about dozens of possible escape tactics, ten of which were deadly to certain red headed idiots). Glancing back round to the beach, Wally expected to see many things: M'gann pointing her camera at him, Kaldur chiding him for being too rough with their youngest teammate, Conner and Artemis completely ignoring his attempts to gain attention. Any of those, he could have predicted.

But not this.

Upon observing the sandy shore, instead of his happily relaxing friends, Kid Flash saw terrified teenagers. M'gann's new camera had fallen, forgotten to the beach floor as she stared, open mouthed at something behind him. Artemis was no longer sun bathing, but on her feet, backing up with wide eyes. It was if everything was in slow motion as Wally watched both Superboy and Aqualad, the power houses of the team, charge towards them. He was sure they were saying something- no screaming at he and Robin, but he just couldn't make out what they were saying over the roar of-

He spun around, pale faced, vaguely aware of his best friend's terrified gasp beside him.

A tidal wave.

_Reviewing that day was one of the toughest things that Wally had to do. There they had been, teenage superheroes, feeling pretty invincible, having been trained by the best and prepared for the worst. Except, they hadn't been prepared. Not for this. This wasn't Captain Cold or Psimon or any other villain. It was Mother Nature at her worst. Looking back, Wally wished that he could say that he had been cool, calm and collected in that moment of panic._

_But he hadn't._


	2. The Crunch

**Hi again! So this one's quite a bit shorter than the last, but I thought it might be appreciated if I post it anyway. Thank you so much for the reviews so far! Please do share your thoughts and ideas about the story! Hope you enjoy XD xxxxxx**

Chapter 2 - The Crunch

Just as a few short moments ago, Wally had felt as if the world was slowing down around him, the sight of the watery beast heading towards him served to slam him back into reality. And, man... what a horrific reality it was. A rush of shouts became clear, but as to which friend they had come from, Wally had no idea, but instead focussed on the screaming faces in front of him.

"Kid Flash! Wally, Move! You have to move now!"

Well, that had to be Kaldur. Ever the leader, even in situations such as these, he had already reverted to calling the redhead his superhero name. Whether that was purely based on instinct or in an attempt to ensure that the speedster understood the seriousness of the predicament, Wally was not sure, however, he did understand the message behind the words. They were in danger and had to get out.

Turning quickly to face Robin, Wally fully expected the kid to have come up with about three different escape methods by now, seeing as how the boy _always _seemed to know what to do. But, instead, the dark haired teenager was stood exactly where he had been before, staring with terrified eyes up at the approaching death trap. He was clearly scared and Wally immediately realised that this was not Robin dealing with the situation, but a horrified Dick Grayson.

Grabbing his best friend by the arm and shaking him out of his apparent stupor, Wally began to drag the acrobat and himself as fast as he could (Why the _Hell _couldn't super speed also provide him with super swimming?) towards a animatedly beckoning Kaldur, whose gaze was split between themselves and the roaring wave that chased them.

In the distance, Wally could see Conner angrily smashing at the water as he tried valiantly to reach the group in time. His expression was a mixture of frustration and determination, although Wally could see that, even with his excessive power, the clone was never going to reach them in time.

And they weren't going to reach the shore in time.

Suddenly, Wally felt a strong grip wrap around his forearm, and he jolted in surprise as Aqualad's face broke through the surface of the water. The Atlantian must have dived under the water before swimming towards them. Once again, Wally realised that the older teenager was speaking to him (more like urgently yelling at him) and he immediately decided to pay the bigger boy some attention.

"-isten to me, Wally! There is no time to reach the shore from here. You must hold on to me and Robin. You have to hold on!" The dark skinned boy commanded, panic visible in his eyes. He felt a smaller grip on his wrist and realised that it was Dick, gripping both he and Kaldur for dear life, one arm wrapped around Aqualad's neck and the other clinging desperately to his own arm.

Wally wished he'd had time to reassure the kid as his eyes clenched tightly in fear. He wished he'd been able to look to the beach in order to observe how the rest of the team were faring. He wished that he'd had a chance to tell his Uncle how cool it was to be the partner of the Flash, you know, just in case...

He _really _wished that they hadn't decided to come to the beach today.

And then it hit.

In a second, M'gann had swooped over to Artemis, who had also began to run towards their friends in the water, pulling her friend upwards and into the sky, above the gigantic jaws of the tidal wave. With frightened eyes, she observed how Conner continued to smash his way through the current, despite the obvious futility of the attempt to reach the other party. She looked on as their leader pulled the younger team members closer to his chest, and ducked his head, after a final glance to the wave.

And then it hit.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, M'gann was aware of the girl in her arms screaming something. Screaming at her, their friends, at the wave... Painfully, the martian heard how the archer's voice broke into a choked sob as the wave passed through and no teammates became visible.

Where were they? Surely, they had not _drowned? _No,Kaldur was a man of the sea! He wouldn't let the water take them! It wasn't possible! But, nevertheless, the green skinned girl soon added her own voice to the devastated screams of the archer.

"Conner! Superboy, where have you gone!"

But she could not see him. She could not see any of them

Artemis clung miserably to the martian, wailing as they soared down over the seemingly calm ocean, searching frantically for any sign of their friends. Unlike M'gann, Artemis had seen the devastation caused by Tsunamis in countries such as Thailand in the past. She knew that there were many consequences to the natural disasters and that death was a frequent result.

Realising that her own presence was serving as a hinderance rather than much of a help, Artemis directed the green skinned alien towards the rocky edge of the Cave entrance, which did not seem to have been damaged too terribly. As soon as her feet hit the floor, the archer's wobbly knees gave way and she sunk to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. Aware of the martian's worried glances, Artemis swallowed her terror and faced the other girl.

"You go fly back out there and search for the others, okay? I'll go and get help so that when you've found where they are, we can rescue them really quickly, alright? Simple as that!" Artemis orderer, trying in vain to sound traught, as Robin would have put it, but even she could here how pitifully hopeful she sounded.

Nevertheless, M'gann was quick to shakily nod her head, before flying back out towards the site she had last seen her friends. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Artemis pulled herself to her feet, before sprinting into the depths of the cave, screaming out for help to anyone who was nearby.

This was a nightmare.


End file.
